Rocket stove/dehydrator question from a lazy newbie...

Martijn Stokkers

Posts: 6

Location: The Netherlands

posted 4 years ago

2

Hi everybody,my name is Martijn and i'm both a first time poster as wel as total newbie to these forums.
Anyway,to get to the point :
Does anybody here have any experience with combining a rocket mass heater with a diy food dehydrator?
I have no land to grow my own food atm,the weather/climate in the Netherlands is not really conductive to Solar dehydration,but our markets sell produce for a really low price at the end of our market days (wednesdays and saturdays) giving me/us the option to buy fresh produce in bulk (sort of).
Now me and some friends of mine do not really need a rocket mass heater to heat our homes right now,but we would like to be able to dry/dehydrate our food and have long term food storage.
So,using woodscraps and tree clippings instead of electricity or natural gas to make a dehydrator just seems like a smart idea to me,but sofar i've found sweet fa on the concept.

So anybody have any tips or ideas?

my thanks in advance,

Martijn...

There is no such thing as alternative medicine:
If it works it's Medicine,if it doesn't it's Quackery

Hello, Martijn and welcome to Permies!
I don't know the answer but I know someone on this site can help you with your question.
We will look forward to your participation here.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"In the garden of gentle sanity, May you be bombarded by coconuts of wakefulness.” ~ Chogyam Trungpa

tel jetson

steward

Posts: 3381

Location: woodland, washington

81

posted 4 years ago

haven't tried it, but I don't think it would be terribly difficult. how you design it should depend on the volume of food you intend to dehydrate at once, and the particulars of the food in question. dehydrating a couple of pounds of sweet potatoes is going to be substantially different than dehydrating a pallet of pears.

I think I may have a solution here! Dehydrating food is done at a relatively low temperature, correct? (under 200 degrees?). As the RMS heats up, the section closest to the barrel is going to be the hottest, while the tail end is the coolest. Put a thermometer on a container that would fit your food however you arrange it and move the container towards or away from the barrel until you find a spot that maintains the general temperature you would like to use! Keep in mind that the longer you run fire, the hotter the whole bench will get so you'll have to keep adjusting.

That's just a "shoot from the hip" idea, I'm sure there are others and better ones! Best of luck

Martijn Stokkers

Posts: 6

Location: The Netherlands

posted 4 years ago

Thanks Adam that's one worth looking into. but correct me if i'm wrong but isn't there in practice some kind of upper limit to how hot the thermal mass"bench" usually gets?

There is no such thing as alternative medicine:
If it works it's Medicine,if it doesn't it's Quackery

There is no such thing as alternative medicine:
If it works it's Medicine,if it doesn't it's Quackery

Joe Braxton

Posts: 320

Location: NC (northern piedmont)

13

posted 4 years ago

Glad to help, post details if you build one.

Jicky Jones

Posts: 10

posted 4 years ago

Anything that gets a breeze blowing through the screens will work. The air does not need to be very warm. Do you think a solar chimney of some sort would work?
Even a near-flattened black-painted trash barrel with vents could function to create a breeze, though would only work in sunshine.

Martijn Stokkers : Do a Permies/Google search for - ' Dragon Heaters ' - They have a (proposed) Design gallery, showing a dehydrator/ clothes dryer cabinet
w/out any fans ! I think these sketches are there to gage future interest. But it gives you clear pictures of this drying compartment over top of a set of over -
sized ( My 'personal' opinion, Y.M.M.V. ! )"bells'' !

For the Future good of the Craft ! Be safe, keep warm ! As always/ your comments and questions are solicited and are Welcome ! PYRO-LOGICALLY Big AL !

Has anyone built one? I quickly discovered I need something like this for drying acorns, apples, and others if I'm to succeed in my goal of supplying my own livestock feed. The weather in Vermont at harvest time is either gorgeous or ... not. I don't think solar is a great option in this climate.

Build your rocket mass heater in the house, then above the barrel (1 meter or so) have a drying rack suspended from your ceiling. You should be getting cooler temperatures (80 to 100 Celsius) with natural convection off of the barrel.

What if instead of putting the dehydrator after the stove, we put the stove after the dehydrator? Maybe the rockety-ness of the stove the air could provide enough airflow for some good dehydration? Just an idea...

"There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible." - Samuel Johnson